Montgomery has at least two more months before finding out if the 187th Fighter Wing will be the next location to land the F-35-A Lightning II.

It was announced this week that the secretary of the Air Force will make her decision in the fall.

Col. Randal Efferson, the commander of the 187th, remains confident Montgomery has what it takes to be one of the two preferred bases selected for the F-35, but he hopes Alabama's civilian leaders will continue to fight for them in Washington, D.C.

"I'm very confident that we are a strong candidate for the F-35 and I'm confident leadership knows the merits of the 187th," Efferson said.

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187th Fighter Wing hopes to trade in F-16 for F-35
Wochit

"What we're doing now is continuing to work with civilian leadership to make sure they know what was in the site survey and continue to advocate for us."

Montgomery's 187th Fighter Wing, was selected as one of the top five Air National Guard sites to be considered for the new F-35 Lightning II jet to replace their retiring aircraft. The other four sites include Jacksonville, Florida; Gowen Field AGS, Boise, Idaho; Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Detroit; and Truax AGS, Madison, Wisconsin.

If Montgomery lands the F-35 program, the area would be home to the first F-35 combat unit in the Southeast, not to mention approximately $3 billion in new capital investment and about $70 million in new construction.

Air Force officials visited each base for a site survey over the summer. Montgomery was the second to be surveyed in May and left Efferson with a positive report.

"I don't think anyone else can say they are stronger than us operationally," Efferson said. "That was one of the things that stood out in our site survey that said we were, 'operationally superior in joint training opportunities' because of our location."

The 187th, located at Dannelly Field off Selma Highway is just a short drive from Maxwell Air Force Base and a short flight to open air spaces over Birmingham and Eglin Air Force Base.

Since the F-35 program is an international program used by active-duty military and guardsmen alike, Maxwell's International Officer School's proximity to the 187th saves the Air Force time and money.

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Montgomery chamber of commerce member Willie Durham discuss how the F-35 fighter jets could bring in 1,000 jobs and create an $8.2 million impact on the River Region.
Duane Rankin/Montgomery Advertiser

In addition, Eglin Air Force Base, which is right next door in Florida, acts as a training site for F-35 pilots and is a convenience the 187th has taken advantage of often with shared air space to train and fly alongside F-35s along with F-22s from Tyndall Air Force Base, F-15s from New Orleans and the 117th Air Refueling Wing in Birmingham.

It's that join force advantage that Efferson hopes makes the 187th stand out among the rest.

Now that all the bases have completed their site surveys, the next step will be a meeting on Thursday.

Three of the Air Force's top generals will be presenting their recommendations from the information gathered from the site surveys to Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek confirmed this and said Wilson's final decision would not come directly from that meeting but would come later after several other meetings in the fall.

"The Air Force is still analyzing data and we expect that an announcement of the final decision will come in the next two months at this time," said Stefanek.

The F-35 announcement was delayed after it was initially anticipated for some time at the end of the summer. Then it was pushed back to September.

Stefanek said the priority for the Air Force and the Air National Guard has been to help victims of Hurricane Harvey and to prepare for Hurricane Irma, which played a part in the delays.

Lora McClendon, the director of Military & Federal Strategies at the Montgomery Area of Chamber, said Lt. Gen. Leon Scott Rice, the director of the Air National Guard; Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command; and Gen. David L. Goldfein, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force will be presenting to Wilson on Sept. 14.

McClendon expects a decision to be made "sooner than later" and most likely in October.

Sgt. 1st Class W. Michael Houk, media operator for the National Guard Bureau of Public Affairs, said Wilson will follow the established Air Force strategic basing process when it comes to the F-35 decision.

The 187th is one of five Air National Guard units vying for the state-of-the-art, fifth-generation fighter jet known as the F-35 Lighting II that will replace all of today's F-16 and A-10 aircraft by 2030.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)

"As part of that process, the secretary of the Air Force seeks input from key stakeholders such as the Air National Guard and other Air Force Major Commands for example," Houk said. "That input is aggregated along with a host of other factors for consideration."

Those factors include assessing operational requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, infrastructure and manpower, cost estimates and airspace and were taken into account from the site surveys.